Wednesday, July 10, 2013

There was another attack on a Charedi soldier yesterday (Dozens attack haredi soldier in Jerusalem) and yet we hear nothing from the leadership. Nothing from the politicians and nothing from the Gedolim. In fact, the Charedi website Kika Hashabbat had the gall to public an article today, נתניהו אשם באלימות, blaming Netanyahu and the secular politicians for the violence. Why the silence? When it comes to the draft, to secular education we hear them loud and clear. However, when it comes to violence against other religious Jews suddenly silence.

This is exactly what happened with קמצא and בר קמצא. The Gemara (גיטין נ"ו) says that בר קמצא thought the following after he was thrown out of the party :
אמר הואיל והוי יתבי רבנן ולא מחו ביה ש"מ ניחא להו
The Chachamim were sitting at the party and saw what happened and kept quiet it must be that they agree with what was done thus setting in motion the chain of events.

The same certainly applies today.

There is something terribly wrong with charedi chinuch if this is the result. In addition, there is something very wrong with Charedi society if the reaction to anything bad that happens is to blame someone else. What happened to introspection, looking for faults in yourself? What happened to taking responsibility for your actions? I am sorry, but the only one responsible for the violence in Charedi society is Charedi society.

Sunday, July 07, 2013

This ad appeared in the Charedi newspapers last week. The ad states that riding the bus is like taking a Challah in the grocery store, just like you wouldn't steal the challah you shouldn't steal rides from Egged.

IMHO this ad is embarrassing and a chillul hashem. This is not a bombastic anti-Charedi politician saying this, this is a for profit company that is spending a lot of money on full page ads in Charedi newspapers. Egged is only spending the money because there is a problem of Charedim not paying for bus rides.

The Charedi leadership has rejected the idea that the government have any control over what is learned in Haredi schools. Any government intervention/control is a gezeras shmad. Let us compare the Haredi schools in NY and those in Israel to see whether government mandates are really shmad.

The following table describes the current situation:

NY Haredi Schools

Israel Charedi Schools

Budget from the Government

No

Yes 55% of public schools

Elementary School standardized tests

Yes

No

High School Standardized tests

Yes (Regents)

No (Bagrut)

State Curriculum

Yes Instruction given to a minor elsewhere than a public school must be substantially
equivalent to the instruction given at the local public school

No

Option to opt out

No

Yes

As we can see in NY State the government provides no funding and yet, mandates a standardized curriculum and standardized acheivement tests. In Israel, on the other hand, the government provides partial funding but mandates no requirements.

The following table describes what the government is proposing in order for a school to get government funding:

NY Haredi Schools

Israel Charedi Schools

Budget from the Government

No

Yes 55% of public schools if the school teaches the state curriculum (full math,english and hebrew, 55% of the rest), otherwise 30% funding

Elementary School standardized tests

Yes

Yes

High School Standardized tests

Yes (Regents)

No (Bagrut)

State Curriculum

Yes Instruction given to a minor elsewhere than a public school must be substantially
equivalent to the instruction given at the local public school

Partial

Option to opt out

No

Yes, any Haredi school that doesn't take government funding doesn't need to fulfill any government requirements.